Significance of postmortem brain analysis in the generation of animal model for schizophrenia by regulation of the presynaptic cytomatrix protein Piccolo

Abstract

The number of patients with psychiatric disorders, such as major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, is increasing at an accelerated rate. However, these fundamental therapies have not necessarily established. This is due to the absence of suitable animal model for individual psychiatric disorders for developing clinical therapies, because the onset and pathophysiological mechanisms of many psychiatric disorders are unknown. Here, we introduce Piccolo, a presynaptic cytomatrix protein, derived from non‐clinical research that focuses on generating animal model for schizophrenia, and outline the significance of postmortem brain analysis in its generation. In the generation of the animal model, the translational approach based on the information from clinical research, especially the postmortem brain analysis, is very important. However, since the information obtained from the analysis is very diverse and enormous, and there are many inconsistencies and difficult to scrutinize them. Therefore, in order to generate animal model associated with several risk factors, it is essential to investigate bidirectional by both the reverse‐translational study based on non‐clinical research and the translational study based on postmortem brain analysis.